Contributor by Google aims to help publishers monetize their content.

A handful of publishers are participating in a new Google experiment to give users ad-free experiences in exchange for a nominal monthly subscription. The new paywall alternative, called Contributor by Google, launched today with 10 publisher partners, including Mashable, The Onion, Urban Dictionary, WikiHow and Imgur.

Available by invite now, users who sign up can determine how much they want to pay — from $1.00 to $3.00 per month– for the privilege of seeing participating websites without Google ads. Users will see a thank you message or pixelated spaces where Google ads would typically appear. Part of the users’ monthly contribution goes to the publisher sites they visit, and Google takes a cut.

A Google spokesperson told Gigaom, which first reported the product launch, that Contributor is, like Google Consumer Surveys, another example of the company helping publishers monetize their readership.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media's Editor-in-Chief, managing day-to-day editorial operations across all of our publications. Ginny writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, she has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.